North Macedonia Plans Legal Reforms for Safer, Digital Workplaces

The government is focused on improving working conditions and environments for workers to ensure their safety and health as well as looking to open new work-from-home jobs and remote positions by digitizing work processes, Minister of Economy and Labor Besar Durmishi said Monday at an event marking World Day for Safety and Health at Work, which promotes the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases worldwide, CE Report quotes MIA.

According to Durmishi, remote or work-from-home jobs are more flexible and help workers achieve a better work-life balance. He also said the state's occupational safety and health management systems needed changing, to adapt to the times and introduce new work methods.

The Ministry of Economy and Labor, the minister also said, would be working on raising public awareness and promoting discussions on the importance of workplace safety and health "in the digital era we work and live in."

Durmishi highlighted the need of "a human-focused approach" in designing, managing and using digital technologies.

"We have to accept that the world is changing," he said.

"The business world keeps changing and developing, creating new opportunities as well as challenges.

"We need to be proactive in adapting to the new trends and technologies so we can stay competitive in the labor market and offer successful career opportunities to our young people so they stay in the country," Durmishi said.

He added that this would also make it possible for those already abroad to come back and "create their own future here."

According to Durmishi, amid the profound changes in the business world, including "globalization, technological progress, and new business models," a major challenge for the Ministry of Economy and Labor was "to determine which workers should be subject to protection and give them the appropriate protection at work."

Speaking about remote work opportunities, Durmishi said the digitization over the last decade had made it possible to create jobs "we could not even imagine before."

"Many jobs that used to be traditional are now changing and adapting to the new technologies and business models," he said.

"Going forward, there will be even more new technology-based jobs," he said, adding that old job descriptions would also be changing and requiring that workers gain new skills.

He said the government, as part of its 2025 Operational Plan for Active Labor Programs and Measures on the Labor Market, was now also offering advanced IT and AI courses as well as digital marketing courses to reskill and upskill people ready to improve their career prospects.

"Only through investing in digital skills will we be able to create new jobs," the economy and labor minister said.

He also said the ministry was "committed to developing legislation that would rise to the new challenges posed by digitization."

"We are working on creating a legal framework that will take into account both the physical and psycho-social aspects of working in the modern world," Durmishi said.

"What is really key for us is to work on aligning the new technologies with our safety and health policies as well as on raising awareness about the challenges related to workplace safety and health," he added.